Hardly any progress in Belgian human rights in 2021, says Amnesty International

In its annual report, the human rights organisation Amnesty International ​ points to the same three key issues in the Belgian human rights situation that it has been highlighting for years, but where hardly any progress was made in 2021. These themes are asylum and migration, ethnic profiling and police violence, and the "inhuman situation" in prisons. Progress was made in the fight against sexual violence, but Amnesty would also like to see more action on the other human rights challenges.

The situation in prisons is an old one. Our country has been criticised on several occasions, including by UN bodies. It has been shown on several occasions that detainees have insufficient access to basic facilities. 

After the UN Periodic Review of the human rights situation in our country, Belgium refused to commit to keeping the number of detainees below prison capacity. "Striking", says Wies De Graeve, director of the Flemish branch of Amnesty. "It says a lot about the level of ambition for prisoners' rights." 

The reception crisis is another issue where Amnesty sees room for progress. "The heart-warming solidarity with Ukrainian refugees threatens to mask the fact that Belgium started this crisis with a government-created backlog and shortage," says De Graeve. "Every since last autumn we see that people have to sleep on the streets."

Still on the topic of asylum and migration, Amnesty points to findings by UN rapporteurs: abuse, discrimination in work in the informal sector and inadequate access to housing and healthcare, among other things. "After last year's hunger strikes, there is still no structural solution to protect the rights of these people," says De Graeve.

A third concern is about the police. Two UN committees asked Belgium to take measures in the fight against ethnic profiling and against ill-treatment and excessive violence, and Amnesty agrees that there is still work to be done there. 

Much progress has been made in the fight against sexual violence: there is more attention for the issue and policies have been improved. In November, a national action plan to combat gender-based violence was adopted, and just this month a sexual criminal law was tightened. "Very welcome and necessary steps," said De Graeve.

The vaccination campaign was also well organised. "Thanks to an information and awareness campaign, the government tried to reach everyone, and we welcome that," De Graeve said. At the international level, the Belgian balance sheet to combat vaccine nationalism is less positive. "There were a number of positive signs, but between word and deed there was still too big a gap," he said. "Apart from a couple of statements, we saw too little there. At the EU level, our country could have done more to force the patent debate."

© BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND